McDonald's Is Finally Doing Something About Its McFlurry Machine Problem

If you've ever hit up a McDonald's for a McFlurry or shake only to be told the restaurant's ice cream machine is down again, well, you're far from alone. Frustration, disappointment, and jokes related to the downtime have been well-documented. But it looks like McDonald's is working on a sweeping change to finally fix the problem.

Following years of complaints from McFlurry-craving customers, McDonald's is getting entirely new ice cream machines to help ensure the consistent flow of soft-serve at its restaurants, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The new machines have significantly fewer parts than the current ice cream machines and are ultimately easier to clean and maintain. Mickey D's said it's installing the more reliable machines at locations across the US and Canada.

McDonald's current ice cream machines are often out of service due to what a previous WSJ report discovered was an exhaustive 11-part cleaning process that takes hours to complete. The cleaning and disassembling process is such a big pain that a former McDonald's employee said they'd tell customers their restaurant's machine was broken or "down" late at night when prepping it to be cleaned instead of having to put it back together for a quick cone or McFlurry. To make matters worse, the machines also tend to actually break down a lot, too, according to the report.

With any luck, McDonald's will soon offer an uninterrupted flow of the candy-filled soft-serve desserts -- just when we need them the most.